Obama vows to safeguard U.S. freedoms

President appeals to world, domestic needs in United Nations talk

New York Times

Published 10:46 pm, Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Photo: DON EMMERT

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US President Barack Obama delivers his address during the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting September 25, 2012 at the United Nations in New York. AFP PHOTO / DON EMMERTDON EMMERT/AFP/GettyImages

US President Barack Obama delivers his address during the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting September 25, 2012 at the United Nations in New York. AFP PHOTO / DON EMMERTDON EMMERT/AFP/GettyImages

Photo: DON EMMERT

Obama vows to safeguard U.S. freedoms

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UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama on Tuesday used his last major address on a global stage before the November election to deliver a strong defense of the United States' belief in freedom of speech, challenging fledgling Arab and North African democracies to ensure that right even in the face of violence.

The speech was in many ways a balancing act for Obama, who has had to contend with angry anti-American demonstrations throughout the Middle East during the past several weeks and a Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, who says the President has projected weakness in his foreign policy and has tried to make it an issue in the presidential campaign.

Obama's message seemed intended to appeal to a domestic audience as much as to the world leaders gathered at the General Assembly.

In a 30-minute address, he vowed to protect the enduring ability of Americans to say what they think. He promised that the U.S. "will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." And he asserted that the flare-up of violence over a video that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad will not set off a retreat from his support of the Arab democracy movement.

Romney was also in New York on Tuesday, talking about foreign aid at a forum sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative, where Obama also spoke after his U.N. address. But Romney was left to make his own case on a much smaller stage, where the host was former President Bill Clinton, an Obama surrogate.

Romney called for a rethinking of how U.S. foreign aid is dispersed, suggesting that it could be tied directly to how governments and organizations work to open up their markets and encourage employment.

"The aim of a much larger share of our aid must be the promotion of work and the fostering of free enterprise," he said.

That idea is bound to spark debate, since many labor rights groups — and many U.S. labor unions — argue free trade pacts like the ones advocated by Romney serve only to ship jobs overseas.

Romney managed a smile when Clinton, who has been slamming him in swing states on behalf of Obama, introduced him, and he even joked about the help Clinton has been giving his rival on the campaign trail. "If there's one thing we've learned this election season, it's that a few words from Bill Clinton can do a man a lot of good," Romney said.

Obama appeared to relish the larger canvas of the U.N. and his subject, freedom of speech and why in the U.S., even making "a crude and disgusting video" is a right of all citizens.

"As President of our country, and commander-in-chief of our military, I accept that people are going to call me awful things every day," Obama said. "And I will defend their right to do so."

For that, he received cheers in the cavernous hall.

The President worked to explain — before a sometimes skeptical audience that has never completely bought into the U.S. idea that even hateful speech is protected — why the U.S. values its First Amendment so highly.

"We do so because in a diverse society, efforts to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics, or oppress minorities," Obama said. "We do so because given the power of faith in our lives, and the passion that religious differences can inflame, the strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech — the voices of tolerance that rally against bigotry and blasphemy, and lift up the values of understanding and mutual respect."